Gina Maria Reams

Among the myriad of handheld games on show at this year's Tokyo Game Show is "Final Fantasy: Dissidia."

I got a chance to play a brief demo of the game, which was straight to combat, allowing users to choose from a roster of save files for various characters and introducing controls between each match-up. That being said, there's a fair amount of buttons to remember in order to control your character to the fullest. Special attacks, dashes, combos, blocks, there's a myriad of button combinations at the player's disposal. While it takes a little bit to get the hang of mastering the all the controls, once you've got them down it's well worth it.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope is the fourth main installment of the Star Ocean saga and marks the arrival of the series on next generation consoles. Star Ocean: The Last Hope takes place before the original Star Ocean title, when in the aftermath of World War III humanity turns towards the reaches of space.

I got a chance for a brief demo of the game, which was set up next to Square-Enix's other big upcoming title of the convention, The Last Remnant. Admittedly it was my first hands on with one of the Star Ocean titles, which I've often heard about or watched friends play but have never gotten a chance to try myself. That being said, getting acquainted with the game's combat mechanics was both a relatively easy and enjoyable experience.

It's the first day of Tokyo Game Show and I was able to get a quick hands on with Square-Enix's upcoming role-playing game for the Xbox 360, The Last Remnant. As is often the case in demos, there wasn't much to do aside from running around and engaging in combat encounters. Players who got a chance to try out the game at this year's Tokyo Game Show weren't even allowed into the menu, but there was enough to learn about the battle system to keep one engaged for the duration of the demo.

There are no random encounters and so it's easy to spot your battles and pick them. As usual, ambushing enemies from behind gives the player an advantage and vice versa. Players control a party pretty much like a full unit, issuing commands in bulk. Certain characters can do special attacks and magic that differ from the rest of the party based on which command is chosen. Attack effectiveness is in part influenced by the morale meter at the top of the screen, which measures the morale of the player's units as compared to enemies. Certain actions can either boost or lower your morale, which can either weaken or strengthen the potency of your character's actions.

Microsoft delivered something for both gamers and developers at its keynote address that kicked-off the Tokyo Game Show on Thursday.

The company is reworking the interface for its Xbox Live service, which is the largest social network of its kind with 14 million members. With the "New Xbox Experience" the Xbox 360's entire interface has been reworked and streamlined, specifically in regards to Xbox Live.